Does assasination have an effect on the battle?

Morning all,
I have a question:

Is there a negative hit to an opposing armys valour if an assasin manages to kill an enemy family member, or general commanding that army?

(aside from the loss of leadership that the family member brings)

Many thanks
SJH

I remember back in the trailers for RTW, before it was released, they talked about how you could use assassins to kill a general right before a battle, and if you attacked immediately then the enemy army would have a huge morale penalty.

But I haven't really noticed this. I find it's difficult to actually tell, because once you assassinate a family member, the army is left under the command of a captain, who gives no morale bonuses, so all units inherantly route easily. Still, I don't find the battle to be any easier than the average 7-star general-vs-captain fight.

Mmm, I've not noticed a difference either when half stack of Rebels wander within reach of 2 of my assasins, who both, in one turn, killed the captain.

Mayby they were deemed to have low enough moral already?

They are supposed to due to reduced morale. In any case, it's not really worth it to assassinate captains. Definitely try for generals though. Even taking out a 3 star or something helps. It also removes one unit of heavy cavalry that they have.

I'd be inclined to agree with katank - the only reason i bother to kill generals is to avoid having to face their heavy cavalry with my cavalry heavy armies.

Thanks for the advice, Gents,
I guess that the only benefit is to avoid fighting the Generals bodyguard, or to add another notch to an assasins poison tipped umbrella.